Waking Nightmares
by MintyPlant
Summary: When Nathan plagiarizes lyrics from a book of necromancy again, Dethklok gets stuck in each other's nightmares.
1. Chapter 1

Standard disclaimer: Characters belong to Small and Blacha. First chapter of six.

* * *

Nathan wasn't really sure how they'd gotten here. The Hatredcopter, probably, he decided, although the last thing he remembered was being at Mordhaus's studio with the rest of Dethklok, about to record a new track for their next album.

He looked over at the other three members of the band — three? That didn't seem right — only to find them looking equally perplexed. Maybe it wasn't just him, then.

"Did ... am I high?" Pickles asked, looking around. "I thought I was just stickin' ta alcohol because we were gonna record, but ..."

"I's not drunk or high," Toki pointed out. "And I don'ts know how we gots here, neither."

Skwisgaar was scowling around. "I don'ts even knows wheres we ams," he said. "But it's hots. I don'ts likes it." He crossed his arms over his chest.

It _was_ fucking hot. They were at the edge of a town somewhere. In what looked like a desert, or that ridiculous sandscape —

Nathan suddenly realized why three was the wrong number. "Where's Murderface?"

The other three looked around, as if the bassist would just appear now that he'd been asked about.

"Who cares?" Skwisgaar said finally. "He ams used-less anyways."

Toki gave the Swede a reproachful look. "Maybes we should looks for him?"

"I'd rather look fer some beer," Pickles muttered.

That sounded better than looking for Murderface, at least to Nathan, but he felt a little guilty about it. Murderface was a dick, but he was still part of the band. Plus, it wasn't as funny to leave Murderface out of the fun when he wasn't around to bitch about it. But if he said that, the others would think he was caring or something. So he thought about it for a minute.

"Uh. Maybe he's already found the beer. And that's why he's not here," he said.

"That bastard's hogging the beer? Let's find 'im then!" Pickles started into the town, and the others followed him, Skwisgaar looking bored and Toki a little relieved.

They only made it a couple of blocks before Pickles stopped. "He could be anywhere. This is taking too long."

"Maybes we coulds asks one of dese peoples?" Skwisgaar suggested.

That sounded like a good idea. Nathan blocked the path of a man in a business suit. "Hey. Hey you. You seen Murderface? From Dethklok?"

The man didn't acknowledge him at all, or stop, or even go around the frontman. He just walked straight through, as if Nathan didn't exist at all.

"What the fuck?" He looked at the other three, to make sure that had really just happened. They were all gaping at him.

Skwisgaar narrowed his eyes, and stalked over to an elderly woman with a walker. He tried to drape an arm around her, but it went right through. He looked disgruntled.

"I don't likes this," Toki said.

"Yeah, what the hell?" Pickles asked. "We're Dethklok!"

"Ja, we ams Dethklok ands they just ignores us like — like nothing!" Skwisgaar sounded outraged.

"Whatever. Let's just find Murderface, maybe he knows what the fuck is going on," Nathan said. He was starting to get really annoyed by this place. Wherever it was.

It took a long time, and it seemed like they had covered half the town, before they finally found a huge stage. The audience was empty, but when they looked at the mostly bare stage, they saw Murderface there, sitting with his bass in his lap, staring at nothing. They made their way to the stage.

"What're ya doin' there, Murderface?" Pickles called. "Got any beer?"

The bassist jumped, then stared at them, after glancing behind himself. "You can shee me?" He sounded surprised.

"Of course we can sees you, Moiderface," Toki said. "Yous right there."

"Ja, and we cans smells you, too," Skwisgaar said, making a face.

The bassist looked annoyed at that. "Go away."

Nathan crossed his arms over his chest. "No."

Murderface scowled at him. "Thish ish my dream, sho you have to do what I shay."

Skwisgaar snorted. "What dreams? We's alls here."

Murderface glared at them all, his disbelief obvious. "Ashholes," he said. "Even in my dreamsh you guysh are ashholes."

"If this is a dream, then wake us up," Pickles said. "Or dream up somethin' ta drink. It's hot."

Murderface heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Fine, I'll wake ush up." He heaved himself to his feet and jumped down from the stage, bringing them back to the street. "Me, anyway."

"Uh, you're not leaving us here," Nathan said, as they all trailed after him.

"Nathan," Murderface said, his tone condescending, "you're jusht a dream."

"I'm pretty sure he's not, dood," Pickles said.

"All of you are, Picklesh. None of thish is real."

Nathan considered arguing with him, but then he began to think about it. "Whoa, maybe Murderface is right, you guys. Maybe we are just dreams."

"Thats ... almosts make the logicals sense," Skwisgaar mused. "Just a dreams in this meaningless universe."

"Told you," Murderface grumbled.

They walked through people for several minutes, Toki still trying to get their attention. He tried to hug one woman, and waved his hands in front of a child's face. No one even looked at him, and Murderface finally barked out, "Shtop it, it never worksh. And it'sh really annoying."

"Dood, that's creepy. You're creepy," Pickles said.

"No shit." The bassist led them into a weird little pink house, and up some stairs. Nathan almost stopped him at first, but Murderface seemed to know what he was doing, and it's not like they could get caught if no one could see them anyway.

They heard muffled voices from one of the bedrooms.

"Oh, Thunderbolt, I know we should be sad, but I've always wanted a sewing room," one of the voices said.

"Why should we be sad? We'd still have a son if that little bastard hadn't driven him crazy."

"And really I do want a sewing room," Stella said again.

Murderface scowled at that, then glared at his bandmates. "Shut up. And shtay here," he said. He stomped to another door, opened it and looked inside, then paled and swallowed hard. Then he slammed the door and motioned for them to all go downstairs again.

"What's in the room?" Pickles obviously couldn't help but ask. Honestly, Nathan was kind of curious, too. If it could scare Murderface ...

"My corpshe," Murderface said in a voice that strove to be non-chalant, jerking his head toward the front door. "Now we jusht go outshide ..." and they all trooped through the door into a sunny, well-kept cemetery.

A sign propped by one open grave said "William Murderface funeral." No one was there except for one man, leaning on a shovel and eating a sandwich. Not even his grandparents. Not even a priest.

"This is really fucking weird," Nathan finally said.

"Yeah, dood, what the hell?" Pickles looked at Murderface. "You dream about this?"

Murderface shrugged. "It'sh not like it'sh real," he said, but he looked uncomfortable.

"Does you dreams about this a lot, Moiderface?" Toki asked.

"Of courshe not, I'm not gay," Murderface said, but he wouldn't look at any of them. Nathan wasn't sure what that had to do with anything, but it was Murderface, so he let it go.

When the gravedigger finally started shoveling dirt into the hole, reality started to twist around them.


	2. Chapter 2

They were standing in a weird ... field? Nathan wasn't sure. The ground was made of something soft and blood red, and there were fires on the horizon. The sky was a sickly greenish yellow, and it smelled of sulfur.

A shadow passed overhead, and they all looked up to see a dragon pass slowly over them, looking down as if it was contemplating whether they would make a decent snack. It kept flying. It must have decided against it.

"Thish ish new," Murderface said.

Nathan looked around. "Skwisgaar's gone."

They all were quiet for a minute while they thought, then Toki said hesitantly, "If the last place was Moiderface nights-mare, then this is Skwisgaar's? Maybes?"

Pickles frowned, then nodded at Nathan. "Makes sense," he said. Nathan had to admit that the weird, twisted landscape seemed like something the Swede would come up with. And the dragons.

"Wait a minute," Murderface said, suddenly looking panicked. "You guysh are really real? You shaw my ... oh shit. Shit!" He walked a few feet away, and kicked at the ground. "I wouldn't have let you follow me if I knew —" He kept ranting as Nathan tried to figure out what to do, and Pickles fought back laughter.

"Murderface, calm the fuck down," Nathan finally said. "I can't hear myself think." He glared at the bassist, who swore a couple more times and then settled down to glaring suspiciously at all of them and fingering his knife.

"Okay, so. Uh." Nathan thought for a minute. "I guess we have to find Skwisgaar. If it's his dream. It's not any of our dreams, right?" The others shook their heads. "Then let's go. Over there," he said, and pointed at a tower barely visible in the distance. It was as good a place to start as any.

They started making their way over the weird ground toward the castle. Occasionally, another dragon would swoop overhead, or a filmy white thing — ghosts? — would rise slowly out of the ground. Discordant music played.

After a while, they were walking through a crowd of women, all rotting, and all wearing Skwisgaar's mother's face. Each Serveta had a different, faceless man with her. It wasn't like Murderface's dream where they were invisible; the Servetas would look their way occasionally, and a few even tried to flirt with them all. Even Murderface looked creeped out, and Nathan knew he had some creepy crush on Skwisgaar's mom.

Nathan shooed the Servatas away and tried to think of a way to distract them. He was the band leader, so it was up to him, right?

"So how are we in each other's nightmares, anyway?" he finally asked. "I still don't know what happened."

They all mulled that over for a minute, before Toki offered, sounding as if he was sure he'd be mocked for this, "Magics?"

"Hey, yeah. Maybe it was that new song," Pickles said. "Like with that troll thing that one time."

It made sense. "Maybe we should stop taking lyrics out of that necromancy book," Nathan said. Yeah, that was probably a good idea.

"Sho we're gonna go through everyone'sh?" Murderface asked.

"Probably," Pickles said.

Toki looked worried. "Whens we gets to mine, you all waits for me. I comes to gets you, okays?"

"Yeah, Toki, okay," Nathan said absently, still considering their predicament.

"Yeah, we won't leave you behind, dood," Pickles said. "We'll come get you."

"No, no. I means don't looks for me," he said.

"Fuck you, that'sh not fair! You all got to shee mine!" Murderface yelled.

"Uh ... why not?" Nathan asked. "We'll need you to get us out, I guess. Probably." It had taken Murderface to get them out of his dream, and that's why they were trying to find Skwisgaar, right?

"I finds you," Toki insisted, and there was a desperate edge to his voice. He set his jaw stubbornly, although he would probably back down if any of them pushed.

Still, Nathan didn't see the point in arguing. "Whatever, Toki," he said. "We're here."

The tower rose up above them. At a window near the top, they could see a lone blond figure staring down. They weren't close enough for Nathan to see his face, but it was probably Skwisgaar.

"I don't see a door," Nathan said. They all walked around the base of the tower, Murderface grumbling about Toki getting special treatment, then the bassist yelled that he'd found it.

Nathan barely fit through the door, and the stairs were a bit tight, too. He managed to get up them after the others, mentally bitching about damn skinny Swedes the whole time. From Murderface's muttered complaints behind him, the bassist was having a similar problem. That was not reassuring.

"Skwisgaar!" Toki yelled joyfully as they reached the bare room at the top, confirming that the blond figure was, in fact, Dethklok's lead guitarist. "Yous here!"

Skwisgaar rolled his eyes as he turned around, but looked ill. "Yes, Toki, I ams here." He frowned death at the others. "You saws my moms?"

They all nodded, but in one of their smarter moments, all refrained from saying anything, even Murderface, and Skwisgaar relaxed slightly.

Toki wandered the room. "So whats now?" He opened a closet, and Skwisgaar was across the room in two quick strides, kicking the door back closed again. Toki started to say something, but caught sight of the Swede's face and shut up.

Knowing Skwisgaar, the closet was probably full of dresses or something. Nathan chose to answer Toki's question instead of making a big deal of it. "Now Skwisgaar gets us the fuck out of here," he growled.

The lead guitarist turned on Nathan. "I don'ts wants to!"

"Aww, c'mon, Shkwishgaar, I showed you guysh mine. We can't shee the others' if you don't get ush out of here," Murderface said. Nathan doubted he was being sympathetic; he was hoping for blackmail material.

"If you don't wake up, we could be trapped here forever," Pickles pointed out, and this made the Swede frown.

"I don'ts likes the sounds of thats," he said. He frowned for another second, then turned and pointed a long finger at Toki. "You ever brings this ups again, I kills you," he hissed, then picked up his guitar. Setting his teeth, he began to play.

The noise that came from it could not be called music. It was the most horrible thing Nathan had ever heard. They all stared at Skwisgaar in shock, and he glared back, daring them to say something.

Nathan wasn't going to say a word. He didn't want to die in his sleep some night.

And then Skwisgaar's guitar started melting and the lead guitarist's fingers began to rot from his hands. He dropped the instrument and scowled at his hands.

And reality twisted around them again.

NOTE: Sorry for the delays on this! I got distracted by a pair of other fics I'm working on and had to drag myself away. I'm not sure I really like this chapter. :/


	3. Chapter 3

Squick warning: Uh ... teeth.

* * *

When reality settled around Nathan again, he was alone. Well, not alone, but the guys weren't here. It must be his turn, then.

He was in a dungeon of some kind, tied down to a soft bed. There were a bunch of hot demon chicks around. Well ... that wasn't so bad, he decided.

"Why am I tied up?" he asked.

One of the demon ladies hissed, "We musst prepare you for our queen. She needsss a new consssort."

"That's ... like ... a boyfriend, right?" he asked, considering the unfamiliar word.

"Yessss," the demon chick said.

It didn't seem fair, after Murderface's and Skwisgaar's fucked up nightmares, that he got to have an awesome dream, but he wasn't going to complain.

His Dethphone rang. Of course he couldn't reach.

"Hey. Hey, hot chicks." As one, all of the demon ladies looked at him. "Can one of you get that?"

One stalked over to him, her hips swaying, and took the phone from his pocket, then turned it on. She held it to his ear, tracing his jaw with her other hand.

It took him a few seconds. "Hello?"

"Nathan! I didn't think this would work," a calm voice said on the other end.

What the — "Ofdensen?" The demon licked her lips, and a second demon came to join her.

"Yes, Nathan, it's me. I need to know what's going on. What did you do?"

Nathan didn't answer, because there was a taloned finger running slowly up and down his chest.

"Nathan?"

"What? I didn't hear you."

The sigh on the other end was long-suffering. "Nathan. What is going on?"

"Oh. Yeah. Uh, we were recording, and now we're ..." his voice trailed off as the finger went lower.

"Nathan."

"Stuck in each other's dreams." The finger stopped, then started trailing back upwards. This was hot.

"I thought this might happen. I saw the lyrics you were using. You realize when you get back, I'm confiscating that book, right?"

"Look, I'm uh ... kinda busy. Can I, you know. Call you back?" The second demon chick's finger was running along his throat, scratching lightly at the underside of his chin.

"What? No, Nathan. This is important. Whose dream are you in now?"

"Mine." He chuckled a little as the finger hit a ticklish spot on his side. "Seriously. I'll call you back."

"Nathan!" Ofdensen sounded angry.

"You ruin all my fucking fun. Robot," Nathan muttered, just loud enough to carry.

There was a sigh, and Nathan could picture the manager squeezing the top of his nose, eyes scrunched shut. Or could if that wonderful finger hadn't hit another ticklish spot, quite a bit lower than the first. "Nonetheless, I need some answers. Whose dreams have you gone through already?"

It took him several seconds to comprehend the question. "Murderface's and Skwisgaar's," he said.

"Alright. You all need to stay together. Together, Nathan. I will try to meet you in either Pickles' or Toki's dreams. Got it? Nathan?"

"Uh ... look, I'll call you back."

The demon chick turned the phone off and set it aside, and a few more of the women joined her and her friend.

They teased him for a few more minutes, then the first one climbed onto the bed to straddle him, and Nathan finally got a good look at her ... assets. He stared in shock, and darkness ate at the edge of his vision. He fought the ropes, but they were tied expertly, and he wasn't going anywhere.

An ugly demon burst into the dungeon room, and said something in a sharp, hissing language to the women on the bed. They pouted at her, but got down.

"Oh thank God," Nathan said, the cold horror at the pit of his stomach making his dick wilt. He hoped the guys got here fucking fast.

Maybe it was because he was dreaming, or maybe it was just a coincidence, but a few seconds later, Skwisgaar kicked open the door, wielding his guitar like a weapon. He took the head off the ugly demon with one swing.

"Nathan getsh a room full of- of babesh! That'sh not fair!" Murderface wailed, but then the hot demon chicks recovered from their surprise. There had to be dozens of them — it really hadn't seemed like nearly that many when they were all surrouding the bed.

They all bared ferocious teeth as their eyes glowed red, and a few sprouted batlike wings and took to the air.

"Hey. Hey! One of you assholes untie me," Nathan said, hoping he'd kept the panic out of his voice.

Toki had picked up one of the giant, iron candelabras along the wall and was swinging at the demons in the air. Every swing took one or two down. Skwisgaar and Murderface flanked him, destroying the demon women that were swarming toward them.

Pickles slipped through the door and made it to the bed without being noticed. "Dood, Murderface has a point, ya know? This really ain't fair."

"They have teeth in their ... mrrfrrgrrlls!" As soon as one of his hands was free, Nathan started tearing at the rope around his other wrist.

"They had ... oh shit, really?" Pickles looked horrified at the thought.

Nathan just yanked at the rope harder. "Hurry, the queen's still coming."

The floor was strewn with pieces of demons. "They reallies has teeths in their vaginas?" Skwisgaar used his blood-covered guitar to prod at one of the pieces. "Calms down, Toki," he murmured offhandedly, as the other guitarist continued to wave the huge candlestick around. "They ams all deads."

"Yeah," Nathan said, wrapping the sheet protectively around himself.

Skwisgaar looked thoughtful. "I woulds maybes still does them," he finally said.

"I wouldn't! I couldn't play my bassh," Murderface muttered, cleaning his knife on his shorts.

"So ... now what?" Pickles asked. "You gotta wake up, right?"

"Yeah. Um. How?" He looked over at Skwisgaar and Murderface.

"I always plays my guitars, and it sounds dildos like Toki's, and I wakes up," Skwisgaar said. Toki glared at him, hefting the candelabra a little, but subsided with a pout when he caught Nathan glaring.

Murderface just shrugged. "Yeah, it'sh alwaysh the same for me."

Well, that didn't help much.

There were footsteps on the stairs outside the door. Toki grabbed up the candlestick again, and Skwisgaar tightened his grip on his guitar, but Pickles stepped in. "No, douchebags, that's what'll wake him up."

"Pickles, you asshole, don't even—"

The door opened, and the most beautiful woman Nathan had ever seen walked in. Skwisgaar started to smile at her and lowered his guitar, but Pickles and Toki both grabbed him and he stopped, looking disgruntled.

The woman swayed over to the bed where Nathan still sat. "Hello, consssssort," she whispered seductively.

He glared at his bandmates, then looked at her as she disrobed. Spikes popped out of her body like a porcupine and as she climbed up on the bed, his vision went dark again.

When his vision cleared, they were all in a different place.


	4. Chapter 4

The first thing Nathan thought, when he felt himself back in reality again, was that he was grateful to be clothed. The second thing was that he might throw up.

All of them were floating, but not in water. At least, it wasn't wet. Everything was weird shapes and colors, and things were blurring oddly and spinning slowly around him.

"Uh ..." He glanced to see whether Pickles or Toki was missing, but they were both there. Murderface and Skwisgaar, too. "Whose head are we in now?"

Toki was looking around uncertainly. "Ain't never hads a nights-mare like this," he said. "Maybes a regulars dream?" He looked unconvinced.

"Nah, it's prob'ly me," Pickles said. "I got pretty high last night, I was still comin' down earlier. A lotta my dreams start this way."

"Sho ... we jusht float here?" Murderface asked.

"Yeah, dude, it's fun," Pickles said, folding his hands behind his head. "Sometimes stuff floats by or somethin'."

They floated for a while. It was kind of nice, if a little weird, after the demon chicks, and Murderface and Skwisgaar's dreams, to do nothing, though occasionally a monstrous version of Pickles' creepy brother would float by in the distance. That was weird.

"Shouldn't we try and get out?" Nathan finally asked, when they'd been floating for a while.

Pickles shot him a look. "You know how sometimes I gotta get away from you guys, an' go, I dunno, break some of Ofdensen's lamps an' stuff?"

"Oh yeah," Toki said, spinning around in the air in a way that made Nathan nauseous. "Likes when you plays with Snake N' Barrel. Or we gots to go in the closet."

"Yeah," Pickles nodded.

No one said anything for a minute, and then Murderface ventured, "Well, what'sh your point?"

"I don't want you guys, like, pokin' around in my head or nothin', okay?"

It made sense. And then, the comment about the lamps registered, and Nathan remembered he'd promised to call Ofdensen back, so he took out his Dethphone and dialed. The guys all stared at him.

Ofdensen picked up on the first ring. "I hope whatever you were doing was worth it." He sounded annoyed.

"It, uh. Really wasn't. Sorry I hung up on you," Nathan said.

"Dudes, we coulda been using our phones this whole time?" Pickles asked, and the Scandinavians shrugged, Toki upside down. Murderface was distracted, watching a brown blob turn colors as it slowly deformed.

Ofdensen sighed. "Never mind, Nathan. Whose dream is this one?"

"Pickles,' we think. We're all together."

"Good, that'll make it easier to find you. Just stay put."

"Yeah, we're not going anywhere," Nathan said.

"Good. Just stay there," Ofdensen repeated, like he thought Nathan would forget, "and I'll be there as soon as I can." And he hung up.

"Ofdensen's coming to get us," Nathan told the others.

"He's here? In my head?" Pickles asked. When Nathan shrugged, he looked alarmed at the thought for a second, then sighed and shrugged. "Whatever, I prob'ly won't remember this next week."

The dream was starting to change around them, things getting more solid, colors becoming more natural. Gravity started to work again, and they all drifted toward the ground.

Skwisgaar was the first to ask, when an unfamiliar street began to take shape around them, like they were looking through a glass smeared with Vaseline. "Where ams we now?"

Pickles was squinting. "L.A., I think." He pointed at a building less than a block away. "Yeah, that's the hotel. It's always in that hotel." He started walking toward the building.

"Wait. Ofdensen wanted us to stay where we are," Nathan said.

Pickles gave him a sidelong glance. "We ain't gonna go in, dude, don't worry. I just wanna see." Nathan shrugged again and followed. The drummer looked like he needed it.

They stopped across the street, and watched people go in and out for a while, then Pickles rubbed at his eyes and pulled out his phone. "Sorry," he said. "I don't wanna go in."

He punched three numbers, then started talking. "There's an emergency at the Marriott," he said to whoever was on the other end. "The one downtown. Yeah. Yeah. Room 318." He hung up after listening for a minute, then folded his arms over his chest, obviously not wanting to talk. Nathan took the hint, and for once, the rest of Dethklok did, too. They waited in silence.

Ofdensen got to the hotel at the same time as the ambulances did. He raised an eyebrow, then turned to the band. "What's going on, boys?"

They all just shrugged and looked at Pickles. It wasn't like the drummer had shared what was going on.

Pickles just watched the EMTs run into the hotel, pulling stretchers. "If we wanna wake up, either the ambulances come an' bring 'em all out, or I gotta go up an' see for myself. Snakes N' Barrels," he clarified, when Ofdensen looked confused.

"Oh," Nathan said, everything making sense suddenly, and he shot Pickles a sympathetic look. Toki awkwardly patted the drummer on the shoulder.

Some paramedics brought the first stretcher through the hotel's doors, over to the waiting ambulance. They weren't running anymore.

Ofdensen, though, was frowning. "This is going to send us into the next dream, isn't it?"

They all shrugged. "Probably," Nathan said.

Ofdensen frowned some more. "I had hoped we could get out this time around, but it's too late. Who's next? Toki?"

Toki nodded.

"Alright, Toki. When we get to your dream, do not try to wake up. Do you understand me?"

Toki wouldn't meet the manager's eyes. "Maybes I wants to."

"Toki, just do what he says," Nathan growled, but he was watching Pickles. The drummer's hands had started to shake, as the next stretcher came down.

One of them was speaking into a radio, and her voice carried to where Dethklok was standing. "They're all DOA. It looks like they overdosed."

The sheet covering the third stretcher fluttered back as it came through the door, and they caught a glimpse of one of Pickles' former bandmates staring sightlessly at the sky before an EMT tucked it back into place.

Pickles looked away, and caught the others staring at him. "None of you better say anythin', I don't care if caring's not metal," he started, but before he could finish his threat, the air started to shimmer.


	5. Chapter 5

Pickles snorted when reality came back into focus. "A carnival? This is what had the kid all upset?"

It was the weirdest carnival Nathan had ever seen. The rides themselves were made out of ... was that candy? There was nothing at the food stands but funnel cake, and there were balloons everywhere. The sky was a horrific rainbow. Cheerful music played in the background. Everything looked a little too big, as if they were suddenly midgets. Carnival midgets.

It wasn't scary, though.

"I think I might throw up," he said.

"Pfft, Toki. He ams like a little childs," Swisgaar said, looking both amused and disgusted. "Can'ts even has a real nightsmare."

"I dunno, you guysh, I think thish ish the worsht one yet."

"So what're we ridin' first?" Pickles said. "The roller coaster?"

Ofdensen cleared his throat. "I think you're all forgetting something," he said.

The four members of Dethklok all looked at him for a moment, and finally Pickles said, "... No?"

"Toki. We need to go find him." Ofdensen could sound really exasperated when he wanted to.

"He didn't want ush to find him," Murderface said.

"Ja, he tells us to waits for him here, and he finds us himselfs." Skwisgaar scowled. "He tells us a lot of the times."

"And none of you thought that was odd?"

Now that Nathan thought about it, it really was kind of weird. Toki was always complaining that he got excluded, so why would he want to be excluded from this? Maybe his nightmares were really embarrassing.

"Let's find Toki, then, I guess. And some corn dogs," Nathan finally said, and led the way deeper into the carnival.

After checking three different stands — only funnel cake and cotton candy — and most of the rides, it became pretty clear that Toki wasn't in the carnival. And calling for Toki did nothing but cause the carnies and vendors to stare at them all, which was pretty creepy. That was weird enough.

Things didn't get really weird, though, until they tried to leave.

"What the hell?" Pickles yelped, jerking backwards and rubbing his face. "Ow!"

Nathan reached past the drummer, and there was some kind of invisible force blocking them. It had a tiny bit of give. He pushed, and that part of the wall got much harder, as thought purposely keeping him in. "This is fucking weird."

"I don'ts likes it," Skwisgaar muttered. "We stucks in this un-metal carnivals forever, maybes."

Nathan looked at the manager, who was also poking at the wall, looking thoughtful. "I was afraid of something like this," Ofdensen muttered. Then, he did something even weirder. He raised his voice, and called, "Toki! Let us out!"

"Toki's keeping us in here?" Pickles sounded incredulous. "How?"

"I'm not sure, Pickles, but I'd guess that he really doesn't want us to see his night terrors. And he's subconsciously keeping us from leaving a safer dream."

"Uh ..." Nathan thought about that, and it made a weird kind of sense, though he wouldn't have thought Toki could be that devious. Of course, until last year, he wouldn't have thought the man would beat someone's face in, either. "How do we get him to let us out?"

"Well, if I'm right," and Ofdensen looked a little dubious for a moment, "then he can hear us on some level. So if we ask him to let us find him, maybe he, uh, will."

"I dunno, I think maybe I jusht want shome funnel cake." Nathan glared at Murderface, and caught Skwisgaar doing the same. "It wash a joke, jeesh!"

"Toki! Hey! Toki! There's this wall ... thing," Nathan said, feeling stupid. He hated feeling stupid, and he especially hated feeling stupid alone. He glared at the other Dethklok members.

"Uh, yeah. Let us out, Toki!" Pickles joined in half-heartedly.

Skwisgaar took his guitar by the neck, and smacked it into the wall. "Opens this dumb, dildos, stupids -" It had no effect, even when he switched to Swedish.

"Toki!" Nathan was getting annoyed. "If you can hear us, you have three seconds to let us out of here. Or else. One! Two!"

There was a moment in which the world seemed to tremble, then the carnival disappeared, leaving a snowy wood behind. Skwisgaar's next swing hit nothing, and he toppled into a snowbank.

Everything was in shades of grey, though Nathan couldn't decide if that was because the dream had lost color or because it was incredibly dark.

"Where the fuck are we now?" Nathan asked. It looked familiar, and after a second, it registered. "Oh, Norway?"

Skwisgaar picked himself up out of the snow, looking extremely disgruntled, and glared in the distance. "Amn't that his father's house?"

Nathan squinted at the old-fashioned house. "I think you're right."

"Ugh, grossh. Hish parentsh are sho creepy," Murderface said. They began wading through the snow. It had been easier with the snowmobile.

The group didn't hear a single sound on the walk. It was as if there wasn't a single living creature here but them, and somewhere out there, Toki.

When they got to the house, the windows were dark and the door was locked.

"Great," said Murderface. "Now what?"

"I dunno, man," Pickles said. He eyed the house. "Should we break in? I mean, it's a dream. We won't get arrested."

Nathan shrugged, and kicked the door open. But a quick look showed that no one was inside.

Skwisgaar frowned. "Where in the hells coulds he be?" Nathan wondered if it were his imagination, or if the lead guitarist was actually starting to sound worried.

"Well, there were outbuildings. That woodshed outside," Ofdensen said. "Maybe he's in there?"

The door on the shed was also locked, with an old padlock attached to the outside, but it didn't stand up to Nathan's boot any better than the house's door had. Chopped firewood spilled across the floor as the door slammed inward.

Unlike the house, the shed was occupied. A scrawny, bruised kid in ragged clothes was chained to the wall. The kid didn't even look up when the door burst open; he just shuddered and stared at the ground. It took Nathan a second to realize who he was.

"Fuck, Toki?" he said, and stepped into the shed, but to his surprise, Skwisgaar pushed past him.

"Don't lets them in," he said to Nathan, and he tugged uselessly at one of the shackles. "How yous going to finds us all tied up, huh? Idiot." The kid — Toki — just looked scared, and there was no recognition on his face.

Nathan blocked the doorway, ignoring Murderface's wail that it wasn't fair. The manager said something too low for Nathan to catch, and the bassist shut up with a few grumbles.

"If this is a dream, shouldn't he be, you know ... adult? Does he know he's dreaming?" he asked Skwisgaar, when the chains stayed firmly in place.

Skwisgaar glanced back at him, then poked the rhythm guitarist. "Toki, wakes up," he said. When the kid stared blankly at him, the lead guitarist frowned, and switched to Norwegian, or maybe Swedish, somehow sounding angry and reassuring at the same time.

The kid frowned at him, shaking his head, but sudden relief and recognition spread across his face. That corner of the shed did a weird little twist that made Nathan feel like he was going to throw up, and adult Toki had replaced the kid, looking embarrassed and angry and scared all at the same time.

"I tolds you to waits!" Toki yelled. "I tolds you -"

"Ams we supposeds to waits forever, Toki?" Skwisgaar glared at him. "In that dildos carnival, while yous all tieds up?"

"Yeah, how're you gonna find anyone chained to a wall, Toki?" Nathan growled.

"I didn't knows it would be this one," the rhythm guitarist muttered sullenly. "You still shoulds have waiteds." He wouldn't make eye contact.

"They wanted to wait, Toki, but I made them look," Ofdensen called from outside, but the rhythm guitarist didn't seem reassured. He stomped out of the shed.

"I don'ts even gets a thank you?" Skwisgaar asked, but Toki had stopped, frozen, in the doorway.

His parents were coming toward the shed from the house, much larger than life — or maybe as large as they'd have looked if Toki were still the boy he'd been when they found him. His father was holding a bullwhip. Their faces were cold and completely expressionless, and neither said a word.

Nathan was suddenly angry. Toki was the annoying, candy-addicted tagalong. The one who hung out with clowns and drove them all crazy with DDR. The one the rest of Dethklok teased for not being metal enough, or accused of being a virgin, just because he was funny when he got mad. He wasn't supposed to have fucked up dreams like this. He should have been dreaming about that lame carnival for real.

"Fuck this," he said. He picked up a piece of the firewood in the shed, shoved Toki out of the way, and attacked. They were just dream parents anyway, right?

"Nathans!" Toki shouted behind him. "Waits!"

It was too late, though. As he smashed the piece of wood into the Wartooths' chests — it was as high as he could reach — they shattered, vanishing.

"Huh. That was easier than I thought," Nathan said. He turned back around, and Toki was staring at him, looking as though he were about to cry. Awkward.

"Gets aholds of yourself, Toki," Skwisgaar spat out, but he patted the other guitarist on his shoulder. Toki swallowed and nodded, and Nathan could tell he was forcing himself to be calm.

"Shouldn't that have have woken ush up? Or put ush in the robot's dream?" Murderface said.

They all looked at Ofdensen, who just looked thoughtful. "Was it a nightmare or a memory, Toki?" he asked.

The guitarist stared at the ground in silence for a few seconds, then said, "It ... it ams a memory."

"Whoa," Nathan said. "Brutal." And no one said anything for another few seconds. Toki's nightmare had definitely caused the most awkward silence.

"So ... maybe you gotta get out of it the same way you did back then?" Pickles suggested.

Toki scowled. "That's will takes forever," he said. "I don'ts wants to go through alls of that again."

"Well, maybe it's a dream memory," Nathan said. No, that sounded stupid. "Uh ... I mean, it was a memory, but your parents never died like that, right? So maybe it's a dream now. So you could, you know. Fast forward. Or something."

"Well, it makes as much sense as anything else," Ofdensen said, when Toki looked at him for confirmation.

"Okays." He closed his eyes, concentrating, and after a few seconds, the world shifted. Nathan was getting really tired of feeling like he was about to throw up.

They were in a city, but it was still snowy. This place looked familiar.

"Oslo," Toki said. He pointed, and Nathan recognized the hotel where, years ago, the four surviving members of Dethklok had once auditioned replacement rhythm guitarists.

Nothing happened.

* * *

Note: Sorry for taking so long on the updates. Also, thanks to all of you for the nice reviews! I sort of just figured out how to reply to them, like, an hour ago. I'm not ignoring them on purpose!


	6. Chapter 6

"Alright, time to get you boys out of here," Ofdensen said, turning around to face them. "Toki, you're not in the band yet."

Toki looked confused and upset. "What? Yous kicking me out of the bands? I's sorry! I didn'ts means it!"

"No, Toki, but -"

"You can't kick him out. It'sh our band!" Murderface shouted. "You work for ush!"

"He's got a point, chief," Pickles said.

"Pff, don'ts wants to train anothers guitarist, maybes even more dildos than Toki," Skwisgaar put in. Nathan just glared from behind Skwisgaar, arms folded over his chest.

It was funny. A few weeks ago, he didn't think any of them would have cared. It wasn't like they hadn't threatened to kick each other out before. Hell, they'd actually done it once to Murderface and Toki, and they'd replaced Pickles that time he'd gone to rehab. But after seeing the insides of his bandmates' heads, caring didn't seem so stupid and lame, and Nathan was pretty sure they all felt the same.

Ofdensen was pinching the bridge of his nose. "No, boys. I'm not kicking Toki out of the band. I just mean he hasn't auditioned yet. In this memory, I mean."

"Oh." Nathan looked at Toki. "So audition."

Toki looked around. "Thinks I left my guitars at my dad's house," he said mournfully.

Skwisgaar facepalmed. "Yous always leavings your guitars everywheres."

"Boys!" Ofdensen cut in. "Toki can't audition yet. If he does, you'll leave this dream and end up somewhere else."

"But we already went through everyone's dreams," Nathan said. "Oh, would they start over?"

Pickles gave Ofdensen a crooked grin. "Would we end up in one of your nightmares?"

"I sincerely hope not," the manager said. "Listen to me for a minute. I need you to all play that song you were recording when you got trapped here. That should wake you back up in the real world."

"Buts I wants to be in Dethklok," Toki said. "I gots to audition!"

"When you wake up, you'll still be in-"

Murderface was glaring at the manager. "Jusht let him play!"

"Yeah, don't be a dick, let the kid audition!" Pickles chimed in.

"... He can audition when you all wake up," Ofdensen said, and they all shut up. That seemed to be enough for the rhythm guitarist, although he still looked nervous.

"Now, let's go inside and hear that song. All of your equipment is in there, except Skwisgaar's guitar, of course."

Dethklok looked at each other, and then Nathan finally shrugged and headed inside. It was fucking cold in Norway anyway.

Their equipment was in the hotel room as Ofdensen had promised, and after a quick warm-up, they launched into the song, "Waking Nightmares." But when they got to the end, reality stayed put.

"Hey. Why are we still here?" Nathan asked. It should have worked. "We'd better not be stuck in Toki's fucking nightmare forever."

The manager had pulled out a folder, and was examining the contents. "I'm not sure. That ought to have worked."

"Maybe we gotta play a different song to wake us back up," Pickles said. "Was there anything about waking up in that book?"

Nathan shook his head. "Just that one with the troll," he said.

Ofdensen looked up, eyes narrowed in thought. "Why don't you try that?"

"You told us we couldn't play it anymore," Nathan said.

"Well, I've changed my mind. Just this once, though."

So they launched into "Awaken."

They hadn't gotten very far before reality shifted around them in a way that was getting annoyingly familiar.

"Ugh, my head," Nathan said. He tried to bring a hand up to clutch at his head, which was throbbing as badly as his worst hangovers, but his arm wouldn't move at first. He panicked and sat up quickly, looking for the demon queen.

He was laid out on the couch in the recording studio. The rest of Dethklok were stretched out on the floor, or in Pickles case, still propped behind his drum kit.

"What the hell," he said, but it was more of a statement than a question.

He heard Knubbler say, "I've deleted the track."

"Good, thank you," Ofdensen said, and Nathan looked over. The manager was holding the necromancy book. Why didn't he have a dream hangover? That wasn't fucking fair. "I'll just confiscate this so they can't do it again."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Dude, shut up," Pickles snarled. "I have gone way too long without booze to listen to you screaming."

"Ja, hasn'ts we beens throughs enoughs?" Skwisgaar said. Toki groaned and clutched at his head, and Skwisgaar shot him a concerned look, then glared again at Nathan.

He got the point, and given the pounding in his head it was a good one. Nathan canceled recording for the rest of the day.

"But I gots to auditions still!" Toki said a little too loudly, and all of them, even him, winced.

"You can do it tomorrow," Nathan growled, and headed up the stairs.

The band grumbled as they made their way to the hot tub, collecting booze on the way. Pickles turned on the TV, and then they all sank into the hot water.

"Let's forgets all about that nights-mare," Toki said, finally turning the conversation back to the weirdness they'd all just escaped and had all been avoiding talking about. He wouldn't look at any of them.

Nathan started to say something, then decided to avoid the awkwardness. "Yeah. None of that gets out. Ever. It never happened, we never talk about it again." He passed Toki a strong drink and then grabbed one of his own — they could all stand to get sloppy after that mess.

"Yeah, okay, but I gotta say one thing first, before we forget all about it," Pickles said. "Murderface, you gotta stop bein' such a dumbass. We'd all go to your funeral."

The bassist actually looked touched. "You would?"

"Ja, gots to makes sure you ams really deads, right?" Skwisgaar said, and Toki snickered. Just like that, the awkwardness was broken.

"Ashholes," Murderface growled, but the corners of his mouth twitched as if he was holding back a grin.

Nathan leaned back, letting his attention drift from his squabbling bandmates, and began contemplating how to write a song about hot demon chicks with vagina dentata.


End file.
